the rest of rhinebeck

October 25, 2011

because this week’s workload is so intense
that i find myself in moments of catatonia
i’ve decided to evade responsibilities through
excessive knitting and, now,
a blog post.

why read the rest of the hundred and fifty odd pages i need to finish in the next three hours when i could spend the next 30 with you all?

let’s take a trip back in time
to a mere ten days ago,
a time of sheep
and wool.

rhinebeck 2011.

rather than try to give you a sense of what rhinebeck “is”
a task to great for this humble writer.
instead i give you random moments,
the idiosyncrasies ofmy rhinebeck.

outside the melee that is the the briar rose tenti ran into david of southern cross fibre with his fiber soul twin, helloyarna few things need to be said about this encounter.

1. david is one of my spinning inspirations, so i felt a little geeky (though apparently others are worse, thankfully)
2. helloyarn was one of my main knitting inspirations when i first began knitting, and remains one of my top 5 “people who’s lives seem so cool on the internet that i wish mine was like theirs”. i’ve moved past the nerdy “she knows my name” phase and felt glad just running into her.
3. though! when i first met her last year, i was not very composed and perhaps too excited. i’m using that as my excuse (that and the campfire lighting) for why i’d forgotten that david and i had been introduced (by adrian i assume) at last year’s rhinebeck ravelry party
4. david reminded me of this fact after my “it’s great to finally meet you!” >minor humiliation<
5. he spun and knit that sweater in record time. i hate him.
6. he’s very handsome in person.

i also ran into amy aka boogie aka spunky eclectic (bitch has a lotta aliases. gotta wonder why) outside the jennie the potter booth free-for-all (adjacent to the briar rose melee). it was odd because i didn’t see her at first, but rather saw beth smith‘s name on a piece of paper in a clear plastic bag she was holding. when i took a second look, i glanced up and there she was. i have no photo, but i got a hug. she’s shorter than i imagined.

the line for the sanguine gryphon was ricockulous. i have to say, knitters are pretty honest. that’s the line to pay. i’m sure people could have just walked off with yarn, but instead waited forever to give them their money. my friend misa was in line for about 2 hours. granted she was getting a sweater-lot of yarn on sale but jesus!

frankly, though, she deserves it.the rhinebeck sweater she knit and designed was too good. it deserved punishment. (if you want more reasons to hate her, look here and here)

i spotted a certain bookfor which i hold strong opinions.
(faithful readers should be able to identify it)

i found out later that it’s author was here to sign copies of it! i had this great fantasy of buying them all, making the author sign them all, then promptly taking them out to a bin and lighting them all on fire.

i resisted.

i satisfied myself by making a catty comment about said author’s attire. i mean really, if you’re going to meet the public, you could put a little effort into your outfit. and for god sakes this is rhinebeck and you wrote a book about knitting. you couldn’t find one handknit to wear?! tacky as your book.

i did however wait in a long line to get stephanie’s new book, and have her sign it. the best part was the hug she demanded of me before i said a word. it’s really nice when a person you genuinely respect doesn’t think you’re a crazy internet stalker because you show up to a lot of the same places and ask her to sign things, but rather, thinks it makes you a nice person. obviously, the yarn harlot is the most famous knitter in the world and has therefore affected a lot of us. but i remember when i first got into knitting, reading her blog made it seem really cool and interesting. it made me want to get better at it. i don’t have a grandma who taught me, or some great knitting tradition in my family. i owe getting into knitting to her (or at least her persona), and i’m glad every time i see her.

but enough with the sappy shit.

at the ravelry meetup, i gave tammy my hatbecause she asked for it.
i’m a firm believer in asking for what you want.

then there is this.
this has got to be the scariest mannequin head everi found it to be extremely off-putting.
what could be so hilarious?

the gem of the rhinebeck (in terms of vendors) had to be into the whirled. everyone i know bought something from here, and with good reason.while i cannot remember her name, and my photo does no justice to her or her wares, i encourage you to go buy all of her things, now. because believe you me, soon, you won’t be able to get you hands on her stuff!

on saturday, i tried the wild coyote sauces spiciest concotion, “buried alive.” it’s made with the “ghost chili”, supposedly the world’s hottest. being a foodie, i couldn’t pass up the chance to try it. plus the owner challenged my masculinity which, in any other case, wouldn’t have mattered. somehow, it mattered this time.

needless to say, it was spicy. a yoghurt smoothie saved my life and luckily, it was only a sample, not enough to give me, what andrea calls, “burny butt”.

the next day, my fiber festival partner in crime, decided she too had to meet the “ghost chili”. i documented it. andrea made the festival for me.
there is no better fiber festival buddy than she.

the last thing i need to tell you about is the ravioli.
the lamb ravioli with wilted garlic spinach.i ate so much i almost got sick.
totally worth it.

as expected it was totally worth being completely behind in all of my work, a behindness that continues as i write this. catching up may never be attainable, but i wouldn’t change rhinebeck for a 4.0 on my next paper. hopefully i won’t have to!

Ha! I actually own said book so I know exactly what you are talking about and I specifically remember what you said about it. I didn’t think much of it to be honest until you wrote what you did..tickles me pink🙂

haha! I said the same thing about the Sanguine Gryphon line. I was still second guessing my decision to NOT buy the yarn that I’d picked up (and put back) when I saw the outrageous line. It cemented my decision to move on🙂

I was one of the people (hopefully there were others) who hassled you on Saturday for not wearing the hotpants in weather that was way more conducive to hotpants than last year. Great to see you. Back to lurking & stalking.

Glad you and your friend in the last picture had such a good time. Hope you two reconnect in the future!

Andrea is right about “burny butt.” A friend once ordered a pasta dish called “Chicken Etna” in a restaurant. It had lots of jalapeno slices in it. Those were so big I thought they were sliced okra at first. He was up all night with a truly volcanic burny butt. Of course, this interrupted his wife’s sleep too. She got quite a laugh from watching him try to carefully, gingerly, cautiously sit down at breakfast the next morning.

And are you sure that “mannequin head” was not intended for something else😉 ???

Into the Whirled’s name is Chris. She has a ravelry group. You should join& linkto your blog post. She would love it!
The lamb ravioli was so rich that I also felt like blowing chunks afterward but in a good way. That mannequin head is the devil.

Into the Whirled here! Steven, no worries on the name thing – I was too giddy about the the fact that YOU wanted a picture of ME to properly introduce myself. I mean your famous and all. Oh, right, did it again, my name Cris.